Jermell Charlo has reacted to Oscar De La Hoya’s bold comeback talk by offering to give him a title shot at his WBC junior middleweight title. De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) said last Friday night on social media that he can do some “DAMAGE in the 154-pound weight class” when he comes out of retirement.
Charlo (33-1, 17 KOs) wasn’t going to let that comment by the 47-year-old De La Hoya slide without saying something about it. If De La Hoya wants to do “damage” at 154, as he says, then Jermell is willing to give him the opportunity.
The former six-division world champion De La Hoya hasn’t made it official yet that he’s coming out of retirement, but he seems to be serious. Three weeks ago, De La Hoya revealed in an interview with Ring TV that he’s going to be resuming his professional career, but he wanted to see how 54-year-old Mike Tyson looks first.
Tyson has gotten quiet about coming out of retirement, so it’ll be up to Oscar is he want to resume his career or stay retired like Iron Mike. De La Hoya would likely be badly overmatched against a good 154-pound fighter like Jermell Charlo, who is coming off of a 10th round stoppage win against Tony Harrison.
Jermell doesn’t want to scare De La Hoya
It’s pretty unlikely that De La Hoya will agree to challenge Charlo, 30, for his WBC junior middleweight title, but you never know. In the interview with Ring TV, De La Hoya said he wants to fight a welterweight at 154. He wants the 147-pounder to move up to 154 for a big fight.
There are only a couple of welterweights in the division that De La Hoya can make a lot of money fighting, and that would be Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence Jr. If Floyd Mayweather Jr wants to come out of retirement, he would be an option for Oscar as well. Mayweather seems to have soured on fighting real boxers, and he’s more interested in facing MMA guys in exhibition matches.
De La Hoya lost his last fight to Manny Pacquiao in 2008 in an eighth-round stoppage. Pacquiao had too much speed and power for the 35-year-old De La Hoya, who made a mistake of agreeing to take the fight at 147. After that fight, De La Hoya retired, and he’s not made any comebacks since.
Oscar needs to stay away from the champions at 154
It would be foolish for De La Hoya to take on the 154lb champions Jermell Charlo, Jeison Rosario, or Patrick Teixeira. If De La Hoya were still in his prime, then that’s one thing. But he looks old now, and he’s badly out of shape. De La Hoya would need to lose weight and build up his cardio for him to have a chance of beating Jermell.
De La Hoya hasn’t said what his objective is for him to come out of retirement. Does he want to fight the best to try and win a world title, or is he just looking to make good money fighting someone like Pacquiao?
Oscar should take it slow if he wants to fight a top 154-pounder rather than rush into a fight that could get him hurt. He wouldn’t stand much of a chance against these fighters:
- Jermell Charlo
- Jeison Rosario
- Jarrett Hurd
- Israil Madrimov
- Tony Harrison
- Brian Carlos Castano
- Erislandy Lara
- Jack Culcay
- Patrick Teixeira
